Freedom comes at a price and a young Earthal princess must live the life of somebody else, even if it means facing evil threats and impossible odds.
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As someone who craves freedom, Princess Clarabelle cannot just stand by and let her life be take...
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THE SHOUT disturbed the unsettling silence of the shack. The echo traveled through the open door, the wind carrying it around the forest to haunt the night.
A girl with a familiar thin frame ran past Clara to the sleeping form of Malini on the threadbare couch she previously occupied. The newcomer must be Malini's granddaughter. She had dressed in a garb not suitable for a late-night wander in the forest. Riding leggings that were no doubt intended to be worn underneath a skirt were paired with an oversize shirt that she fashioned as a tunic. Her dark chocolate tresses flowed down her back. It fell like a curtain around her small face.
Clara felt it to be a deja vu. Somehow, in the past, she had looked at someone the same way she studied this girl in a similar circumstance.
The girl bent down and caressed the old woman's weathering skin. She spoke in a feather-light tone, "Malini?"
Malini, immersed in a deep sleep by her healing powers, heard nothing and continued to dream. This aggravated the girl, her whole body trembling from a barely suppressed desire to lash out. "What have you done?" she said in barely above a whisper.
She pivoted on her heels, showing Clara the face of an angry lamb. There was a fiery tinge in her soft brown eyes and her thin lips were pinched tight, possibly stopping herself from baring her teeth at the princess.
The princess failed to hold back a gasp. "It's you. You're Estel?" Malini's granddaughter was the same girl who had only recently transferred to her class. She couldn't stop looking at her that time because she was already familiar with her then. However, this Estel in front of her was far from the shy and aloof one in her class. She looked like a beast in the body of a sheep.
"Estel, about Malini—"
A body slammed into Clara, engulfing her in a bone-crushing hug. Holly buried her face in her chest as the ward's shoulders were wracked by sobs. Without a word, Clara returned the gesture of comfort, encircling her arms around the prone frame of her friend and smoothing the windswept tangles of Holly's auburn hair.
"Thank the Guardian Deity you are okay," Holly said in a muffled voice. She sniffed once, then twice before she pulled herself out of the princess' embrace. Tears stained her tan cheeks. Fear and relief battled for dominance in her ruby eyes. She began to whimper once more. "If something had happened to you, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I-I only have one duty as your ward and yet I can't even do it properly."
"Holly," said another voice. If he hadn't spoken that one word, Clara wouldn't notice him there. Maxwell made an act of reaching out to Holly, but his fingers froze mid-touch and let his arm fall to his side. He fell a step back, jaws twitching.
"It's alright, Holly." Clara swiped a thumb over her tear-stained cheeks, wiping them off. "I'm fine, see? Nothing bad happened. Just a few scratches when we were escaping but none too deadly."
"N-Next time..." Holly gulped. She drew in a breath then blew out, steadying her voice. "I shall become the proper ward I ought to be, Princess. This will be the last time I disappoint you. I swear on my family's name."
